"What place is this?"
Luo Bei did not know how long he had been unconscious before he finally came to. When he woke, dazzling golden light stabbed his eyes—it was already noon. What left Luo Bei briefly dazed, as though he were dreaming, was that he was lying on a brocade couch in an exquisitely lavish room. The bedding was all brand-new: a fine silkworm-silk quilt, its purple brocade cover wafting a faint, secluded fragrance. The entire floor was paved with crimson cloud-patterned stone, soft in appearance and gleaming with a warm luster.
The furnishings were all made of wisteria wood. Pale purple gauze curtains hung from the finely carved lattice windows. Wisps of breeze drifted in through the half-open windows, stirring the gauze and letting threads of sunlight stream into the room.
Looking through the half-open window, he saw a courtyard. A delicate artificial rockery stood within it, flanked by two little pools. Fine white sand carpeted the pools' bottoms, one stocked with white fish and the other with black fish.
Everything about this place resembled the residence of a prince or nobleman. Yet what bewildered Luo Bei most was the sight of a little maid of fourteen or fifteen, seated at a table near the window inside the room, her head bobbing as she dozed.
Perhaps the sound of Luo Bei suddenly sitting up startled her. She gave a start and turned around. The moment she saw Luo Bei sitting up on the bed, she hurriedly rose to her feet. "Young master, you're awake?"
"What place is this?" Luo Bei's mind had cleared, but what he could not understand was that this maid, dressed in brocade and wearing a pretty little braid, did not have the slightest fluctuation of magical power about her. Moreover, the way she addressed